That may have been me.  I took both belts off of their reels, leaving
screwdrivers in the mechanisms to keep them from unwinding.  The belts
went into a front load washing machine (the metal insertion part of the
buckle still attached).  After drying overnight by hanging over the top
of the door I reassembled them.  I gave the winding mechanism a squirt
of Tri-flow and tightened each mechanism 1/2 turn before the belt went
back on.

Highly recommended.  They work like they were new.

-bret

1982 diesel westy in Saint George, Utah

On 3/14/2011 10:38 PM, HotelWestfalia wrote:
> I recall, someone writing about it a couple of weeks ago, that he tightened
> the spring by two or three turns also, to make the reel pull back stronger.
> It would be interesting to know how it's done.
> Zoltan
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Scott Daniel - Turbovans" <scottdaniel@TURBOVANS.COM>
> To: <vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM>
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2011 9:13 PM
> Subject: Re: seat belt retraction
>
>
>> I liked David B's idea of a thorough cleaning and drying.
>>